Dear Yulegoat:
I love you!
It's what everyone says so it ends up sounding stale, but it's so very very true that you're amazing for wanting to participate in this exchange, and obviously have excellent taste because you love one of these fandoms :D And more than following my prompts or trying to twist a story into a particular interest I express, what will end in me adoring the story is if you adored writing it (minus the usual angst, frustration, and blood bit during the actual writing process) So have fun, roll with your gut, and I'll see you on the other side!
About Me:
I'm a child of extremes. I love heart wrenching angst and gut busting humour. The lyrical vignette, and the minutely plotted story. The explosion of a second and the gaze over millenia. My favourite high in the world is discovering something new about a character, whether by following a logical train of thought or plunking a character in a new situation and asking the most wonderful question in the world: what happens next?
I like not so much: I do tend to shy away from a couple things. Fluff: I think I have the reaction to total fluff that some people have to really dark fic. :( It's something about the optimism and untempered happiness sits poorly. (Except when paired with absurdist humour) The other is PWP. NC-17 is perfectly fine - great even, if it's what you love to write or where the story goes. But I tend to see the actual sex as secondary to what's going on emotionally between the characters, so I'd love to get a little peek into that side of things. And there is a third - mpreg. --- These three things are definitely negotiable, and I would love to be proven wrong! So if you're heart leads you down that path, I'm delighted to see where it goes!
My one true squick is incest, which probably isn't an issue but if it is, I'm very very sorry, but I just can't read it.
I like very very much: In general, my favourite pairings are cross generational, which this year doesn't actually apply o.O But the reason for that is I'm fascinated by the dynamic, especially the power dynamics which tend to manifest, which isn't unique: the complementary skill sets, personality traits, failings and regrets of people in different stages of life. I believe that we cycle through, reborn into new stages over and over - from child to adolescence, adolescence to adulthood, adult to midlife, midlife to old age, acceptance of death. And in every stage we go through some of the same struggles, only in a different way - and we connect more to people paralleling our progress than those with whom we're offset.
I love all these pairings, whether it be friendship or romance or the kind of animosity that keeps them bound together. The moments that strike me hardest are the places where 'love goes wrong': where it's unrequited or simply the wrong time or the wrong place or just those moments where it's highly uncomfortable and awkward and feels all wrong when the status quo starts to shift and they don't know whether they want it to stay or need it to change.. And then those quiet moments when all that disappears and it just feels right, but that moment has been earned, dues paid. (Which, on reflection, explains my fear of fluff. Fluff existing in the after, and without conflict or uncertainty.)
My favourite stories of all have ambiguous endings and no real resolution, and I guess very little 'shippiness' at all. But just these hints and tweaks and nods to possibility in an otherwise gen story.
---
On to show specific musings, which are more just one train of thought than anything. I always have a multiplicity of theories and explanations about what's going on and who these characters all, and more than having my own meanderings back, it's amazing to hear someone else's interpretations (and add them to my stockpile of gold, on which I can snooze, blowing ash out the--- *coughs*) Ie: I hope this is useful just to give you a sense of how I see these shows and characters so that you're comfortable writing it - I've found, for me at least, there is NOTHING worse than having absolutely no idea if you and the giftee are even in the same ballpark :)
Power Play
I guess this is sort of a hot potato in the realm of Canadian TV. I know a few people have been asking/offering it every year, and no match has happened yet. So if I'm the first: \o/ Otherwise, given my show choice, there's a reasonable probability you know this show too and might get a kick out of this.
What I love about this show, and have ALWAYS loved about this show, is that it does that thing Canadian TV does so well: show absolutely authentic, complex, human characters through a world bent a bit sideways. Sure, Brent might be hallucinating, dead hockey players might be a manifestation of a tumour. But it's so much more fun, more "true," if you will, if it's just something that is. Like Duff's TV, receiving broadcasts from the past. I love that characters win and lose, and do so kinda a lot and kinda badly. But then they get back up because dwelling on and on to the exclusion of progress is dramatic, not necessarily real.
I listed Brent and Colleen so you're sorta stuck with that, but I give full permission not to be. If you want to investigate one or the other, character study or day-in-the life, a piece from the past or a peek into the future - all lovely! They qualify as one of my OTPs, but at no point in canon do I think they're ready for each other. Let's face it, they have more than a little complement of issues, and it's going to take a long while before they could even be stable.
But in the meanwhile... The characters play off each other beautifully. They both need to be challenged, and they both want somewhere to belong - failing hearts, they both ended up with the Steelheads, and with Duff. (BTW, I do ADORE Duff, who doesn't? *g*) I like this confrontation almost more than the prospect of them getting together - if they didn't often hate each other, they would be best friends. Maybe they are anyway. It's something deeper with them, like their soul is made of the same kind of fabric, the grain a little out of step with what other people have. I love watching them interact, over or in any situation. What would happen if Colleen went to the hospital while Brett was trying to get Duff to wake up? What happens if they work together to beat an outside force, which is bigger than ever?
I hate to have to say this, because it feels like a copout to fall back on but: it's Power Play. I think there is a grand total of 1.5 fics out there, and one of them is my rough attempt. I'd be delighted with a rendition of "Brett and Colleen sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G"
Secret Adventures of Jules Verne
I remember catching this right before it was cancelled. I think it would have been on Space, though all I really remember is running back and forth to the computer because I wanted more, and the fandom was producing amazing stories. I still have episodes taped on VHS (apparently, I am old o.o ) and the CD conversions passed around once technology got us off floppy disks. SAoJV is thus tied up with the way I experienced both television, and fandom, bridging these technological aspects that kept changing everything.
What I love about this show is the awesome Steampunk vibe (I still laugh at "newer" characters and shout: "But Count Gregory was SO MUCH COOLER!" and then have to explain who he is to unimpressed faces.) And how this vibe was the show, was the characters, seeps into my imagination even though the film is grainy and blurred. It's the endless possibility, the endless ideas, the competence and confidence, and the reassurance that at the end of the day, our fab four are always there for each other. Not to mention the edges of fate and manipulation and playing with real life history, which is addictive and exhilarating.
I never cared as much for Jules himself, he usually felt a bit flat and the American accent always posed a conundrum, but I in no way dislike him (and yup, I *heart* Passepartout like madcap). But as you're only definitely stuck with Rebecca and Phileas: I fully believe they are very distant cousins (like, third or more complicated) and/or Rebecca was really adopted from a family friend/orphanage/maid and they don't like to say. I fully believe that Phileas loves her as his cousin but loves her more than that, and most of all needs her desperately. I absolutely adore Rebecca, that she's managed to make a place for herself, if not entirely the place she wants in Her Majesties Secret Service. She is badass but still a lady, and comparisons to Helen Magnus aren't unfair, really. She's not afraid to be alone, and not afraid to belong.
What's intrigued me the most is the rather late revelation that Erasmus was the older, not the younger brother. I've never quite got my mind around that one, so I'm always looking for different ways of understanding just why Phileas reacted so violently. What was their childhood like, how did Rebecca interact with each of them? Was Phileas always her favourite? Or... not. How has Erasmus's death and Phileas quitting affect her work relationships, or does she ever use it as proof that she belongs? I suppose I'm saying that one point of interest is the Fogg's ongoing relationship with the Service, and how it affects their relationships.
Alternatively: mundane adventure in a day in the life of... I mean, these guys can get into trouble anywhere, eh. Or what happened when Rebecca told Phileas she was joining up. Or how all her awesome custom clothes get made, and what happens when she gets stuck in them. If they were both in a poker game, who would win, and how badly would they fleece the competition? Etcetera etcetera etcetera
Being Erica
This is a puzzler. Less so since I put down Brent and Julianne. And I love them, and there is nothing about them which I do not adore. :D Also because the show is currently not over, but will be in 3 weeks (hockey! 2 weeks was better for writing...) So, ah, please set a story whenever, and with however much or little as you know. Pure spec is lovely, I have no problem with a story that conlicts with canon but is consistent with what was known at a given juncture - I actually find it amazing, since there's no other way to really remember what we believed before we were told the answers.
So if you've peeked at my journal you've probably noticed I HEART this show, like, a lot. And possibly noted that I'm having a very rough relationship with it, especially this year. Butbutbut: "Jent" (Brent/Julianne) is the one thing that I have absolutely no qualms about, I love them like OTPforever and think their 4 year arc played out perfectly, if somewhat thinner on scene length and quantity than I would have liked.
I love that Julianne honestly had no idea, those first years. I love that she wanted to forgive Brent, and then she *did.* And forgave him for real, not just passive aggressively so she could bring it up later. I love that Julianne can so easily hurt people by being oblivious, but was always Ivan's favourite ('til recently?) and doesn't judge people and is loyal and always ready to help out. I love that Brent turned himself around and tried to repair a relationship that he's massacred, without expectation for how much they could even get back. I love that he did it without Therapy (or did he?). I love that their relationship is so easy, but still is so complicated and hard - they work because they fit, but that doesn't mean circumstance and the world won't get in the way.
I'd really like to see something darker with these two, just because I think the show might leave it bubbly-happy and we missed all the bits that were more painful. Of course, with so little airtime, there are a million places to sit and take a look at them - what was Brent thinking about as he hit "sent?" When Erica refused to be saved from being a casualty of his vendetta? When he was so sick of the path he locked himself into and wanted it to end? What hurt Julianne the most about his betrayal? Did any part of her ever know, or suspect? How did they meet, and what did it look like as they got to know each other? Heck, even: what happens in a world where any of the decisions didn't happen, or either of them refused to cave?
It's worth mentioning that in my head I"m obsessed with the idea that when Erica finds out about them, she's pretty negative, and both Julianne and Brent stand up for each other, and their relationship, without compromise. Especially if it's Julianne standing up to Erica in private, and Erica not getting to run to Therapy to be able to say "I think it's great!" But... tactfully. I can't ask for Erica bashing and really don't want it. I've said a lot of stuff here and there, but in the grand scheme I do like the character of Erica, and I don't think she's evil or completely irrational - but then again, Brent and/or Julianne are the stars of this one.
(PS, really could be an either or if the pairing doesn't work for you, since the professional banter can be a bit thin. It would be amazing to see Brent backstory or more about Julianne's childhood or what she does in her free time or how Brent started talking salsa lessons...)
Oh, PPS, in honour of their book idea I've renamed emoticons. *\o/* is now BRENT and <3 is now JULIANNE. Which has nothing to do with anything except it's one of those little details that can be handy to work in to something, ignore at will!